The victimization of the Muslim community that the terrorists allude to is only a pretext for their own self-fulfilling logic. Even the people from the community will not accept these fanatics. Dipu Shaw analyses recent incidents…

Two reports on the day after the Delhi serial blasts in a national daily.One had the story of Mohammad Ashraf from Kashmir who had come to the capital looking for peace three days before the blasts. Ashraf lost one uncle (Narim) in the blast at Gaffar Market, Karol Bagh. His other uncle, Farooq, was in the surgery ward of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital battling for his life.

The Rs 25,000 required for the rickshaw-puller to return to Kashmir has been put together by the Beadonpura Handloom Traders. Traders Praveen Gupta and Hemant Puyani were with Ashraf all morning at the Lady Hardinge Medical College mortuary where Narim’s body was kept. Narim was a rickshaw puller in the Gaffar Market area.In another report on the same day, there was an article about Qutubdin Ansari – the tailor whose brimming eyes and folded hands became the defining face of the Gujarat riots.

The connection

The 2002 photograph of Ansari was one of the two that the militant group, Indian Mujahideen which owned up responsibility for the Delhi blasts, used in their terror e mail. The photograph had a caption – “Eye for an Eye.”Ansari who now runs a tailor shop in Gujarat has forgotten about the Gujarat riots. Off course, he had no clue that his photograph was being used as a poster by the Indian Mujahideen for its terror mails.

The terrorists cannot be adherents of any religion. People like Ansari too hate being associated with any such outfits. The terrorists on the other hand are claiming to act on their behalf. If avenging the wrongs done to the genocide victims is one of their agendas, then it is unasked for even by the victims of the genocide. And how do they do it? By taking innocent lives of people, who have nothing to do with any of such incidents?

The terrorists are converting innocent citizens including their co-religionists, into fodder for their own designs. Narim who died in the Gaffar Market blast will be buried with the help of Praveen and Hemant. For these traders, the 10 year old relationship that they share is more important than their religious differences.

A cult of violence

The victimization of a community that the terrorists allude to is simply a pretext. It has its own self-fulfilling logic. If this is a battle on behalf of the Muslims, what sort of battle is this? For if nothing else, these acts make life more, not less difficult for Indian Muslims. It is as if the terrorist is besotted more with the cult of violence than genuine care for Muslims whom he uses as a pretext.